Available Lite

Available Lite - Did You Get Your Ears Lowered?

The other day I took Damek to go get his haircut . . or as every Grandfather used to say "to get your ears lowered" I wasn't prepared for the cuteness.

Available Lite - The Big Moe Down

Around Christmas time Andy, the lead singer of A Band Named Sue, mentioned that his friends touring band, MOE. was going to be playing in town. He told us that he was going to try to see if he could get A Band Named Sue to open for them. They were originally scheduled to play at Stubbs, but because of the weather, they move the show to La Zona Rosa . . . hmmmmm weren't we just there?

The whole thing went down at the eleventh hour and we weren't sure until the day of the show whether it was going to be, Green light go or abort, abort! But the good news is that we got to play the show. You can check out more pictures from the show on our band Blog at: Ablognamedsue

Here are a few pictures that I took with the camera phone.

This was the drum set that I got to play. It was one of the best drum sets that I've ever even seen. All the hardware was top of the line and the action on the bass drum and high hat pedal was really tight. This was right after our sound check. They were testing all the lights during our check so it was like a real show. The crew for MOE. was amazing!

I took this shoot from the view point of the drum thrown. It was before the doors opened, but they were still testing the lights. Even when the show started you could only see the first 3 - 4 rows of people.

This is another picture of the drum set. I took this picture to show all the lights that were used to just lite the drum set!

I'm not sure what this is for, but it was next to the guitar players amp. It must have been important!

Big Head Available Lite

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted and I've had to upload pictures to my phone about three times. I've been really busy at work, playing in a band and doing all the thing that you do when your wife is having a baby. Amber and I are both doing well and I think that she is counting down the days until her last official work day. I think that she could really use the time off to just get things settled before we are parents.

On February 11th, Amber and I trucked down to La Zona Rosa to see one of our favorite bands Big Head Todd and the Monsters. All signs indicated that they show was going to start at 9:00 and that the doors were going to open at 7:00. So we headed down to the bar to find a giant line all the way around the corner. Neither one of us took a jacket because we assumed that we could walk right in, but we had to wait about 15 minutes in the chill of the night, before the line started to move. Even though we were pretty far back, we were able to secure a good location for the show.

A young fellow named Jackie Greene opened up for Big Head and brought out Charlie Sexton for a few songs. It was pretty cool. I've lived in this town all my life and that is the first time that I've ever seen Charlie Sexton play . . .should have seen more live music when I was younger.

Anyway Bighead took the stage and it was a great show. We cut it short because Amber was getting tired and you can't blame her because . . . well she's pregnant and there really isn't any place to sit at the club. It was a good night and we were both kind of tired anyway.

This was the line when we showed up. La Zona Rosa is around the corner and down one block.

Jackie Greene and Charlie Sexton. Jackie Greene is sitting to the left of Charlie on the keyboard, while Charlie played guitar.

Big Head Todd Takes the stage.

I was able to get a little bit closer for this shot.

Available Lite - The Baby is Coming! The Baby is Coming

The other day we had our second ultrasound, and while it was wonderful to see our child being created, the over all experience was less than joyful. Let's start at the beginning.

Amber asked me to set up our appointment with Austin Perinatal Associates because I have more free time during the day. When I made the appointment, I asked if we could have the 3D ultrasound and I asked how much it would be. Since Amber and I aren't using our insurance we are paying out of pocket. The answer to my question was, yes we could have a 3D ultrasound and the charge was only $150.00. Great was my answer so we set a date and it was all smiles.

Jump forward to the appointment.

So we get there and sign in, only to find out that we can't have the 3D ultrasound and the cost of the visit is going to be $250.00 and if we want to pay an additional $150.00 the we can have the 3D ultrasound. This did not make us happy and the worst part about the whole thing was that they didn't even have a good excuse for the mistake other than to blame the person that set up the appointment, who wasn't even there! The only real apology that we received was, "I honestly can't tell you why you were told that". That was it! . . . nothing like, "I'm really sorry that this happened, the person that made this appointment should have asked the appropriate questions and this wouldn't have happened". Now this is what any good customer service person would do, but then again we are dealing with people that need to wake up and realize that, not only are they upsetting people, but those people are PREGNANT and are not in a physiological place in their lives to take rejection!

Even as we were leaving they didn't even say they were sorry, not even to make sure that we understood that they felt bad, because in my opinion . . . and I say again in my opinion, they weren't really that upset and I really felt like a paycheck to those people.

Regardless of the situation, I still wanted to post these picture of wonder child! And to let everyone know that our child already has hair and all it's parts are not only in the right places but the right sizes!

Available Lite - Ashley's 8th!

This weekend my niece, Ashley, celebrated her 8th birthday with her friends. This year is the theme was American Idol. My mom reserved the Shady Hollow Community Center and Ashley's favorite Uncle (That would be me!) brought the Karaoke rig. Luckily Ashley got a karaoke machine for Christmas so we just hooked it up to the speakers and I had two mic ready for the youngsters. Since I'm not familiar with what the 8 year old kids are listening to these days, Ashley brought her karaoke disc. It was a lot of fun, all of her friends dressed up like American Idol superstars and everyone had a chance to sing when they played pass the mic.

Available Lite - Today We Roll

Sometimes you just got to get out and bowl! The other day I took my niece and nephew out for a few games on the lanes. We were lucky because I got a bunch of free passes from the league that I bowl in on Tuesdays. We had a really great time and it was fun to see the kids take charge of what can be a challenging game. Luckily the bowling world has caught up with kids and have built in these bowling bumpers that keep the ball out of the gutter. The other great thing is that you can tell the computer pin setter which bowlers are using the bumpers and which aren't. Each time the kids would bowl the bumpers would pop up and then when it was my turn the bumpers would drop.

After bowling we had Amy's Ice Cream and then I dropped Ashley off at Gymnastics and Andrew and I went to see Nanny McPhee.

Available Lite - Intergalactic Nemesis!

A few weeks ago Amber and I went to see Mike D'Alonzo and Shannon McCormick in the Salvage Vanguard Theater presentation of The Intergalactic Nemesis. For those of you that don't know what a Salvage Vanguard is or an Intergalactic Nemesis, I have to say that it's one of the most talented things that I have ever seen Mike do.
Mike blew me away in the late 90's with the premier of Disney on Ice performed by his sketch troupe Catch 24. But with SVT he is able to take of the writer, director, producer hat and hone in on his acting talent. The Intergalactic Nemesis is a 1940's radio show that is performed live in the theater, much like the original radio serials were broadcast. This of course was prior to satellite radio and Howard Stern.
This performance of chapter 1 of the Intergalactic Nemesis was at the Hideout theater in Austin, Texas and was the "dress rehearsal" for an off Broadway production at The Bowery Poetry Club in New York city. This was a great opportunity for the cast, to not only perform to a sold out house, but they also go to present the show to some producers. The show is on the block to be presented in Texarkana, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts. These folks that put on this show are very talented and I hope all the best for the success of the show and the actors involved.
If you get a chance have LB Deyo explain radio silence. . . .it's genius!

LB warms up the crowed

Mike strikes a pose

Shannon McCormick breaks it down with his master of Oriental hand jestures.

Available Lite - Carson Reed Gustafson

Sunday Amber and I went to visit our good friends and partners in the campaign for natural child birth Kathryn and Matt Gustafson. A week ago on the 22nd Kathryn gave birth to Carson Reed Gustafson at the Austin Area Birthing Center. Kathryn's comments about her experience was that she couldn't have asked for more. Funny thing is that Kathryn sent Amber an e-mail 12 hours before she gave birth and noted that she was feeling some contractions, but she didn't think that it was time. She also said that Matt was working late doing inventory and it wouldn't be good timing, but nature has a way of saying . . ."Hello, here I am . . .Love me!"

Carson Reed was born at 9:30 a.m. Sunday January 22, 2006 and weighed in at 7 lbs. and 10 oz..

Available Lite - Mr. Puppet?

Last Saturday Nicole, Damek, Kael, Amber and I went to our friends Scott and Kimber's house for their daughter Miranda’s birthday party. Scott and Kimber . . . or rather Kimber takes great pride in the birthday parties that she throws for her children. For their son Cash's first birthday, they created an old western town in their back yard, they had a train in the front yard and even had someone bring a horse for the kids to ride.

Miranda’s birthday was a little less involved, but they did have one addition that all the kids found very interesting . . . Mr. Puppet!

Mr. Puppet is Robert Abdou and he hails from (no suprise!) Brooklyn, New York. Somewhere along the way, Mr. Puppet never made it as a Puppet Comic and now he uses his talent as a puppeteer to play kids parties. Now I have to give Mr. Puppet some props and say that he did a really great job entertaining the kids and I would recommend him at your next kid’s party. The kids really were entertained, but Mr. Puppet needs to up the dosage on his valium and remember that he's there to entertain a bunch of kids and kids, by default act like . . . KIDS! I'm sure that Mr. Puppet has been doing his kids gig for a long time and maybe he has learned a few things along the way, but now he lives in Texas and I just thought that he might get a little further with Southern Charm than New York Wit!

Over all it was a great time, the kids loved it and it was a lot of fun. Damek really seemed to enjoy the show and I have to admit that it was fun too, but more fun to see all the kids get such a big kick out of the whole thing. I think that next year it's the low key birthdays for everyone in the Durkin house. In 2007 I think that Kimber is going to order some left over Apollo program parts from NASA so the kids can build a rocket and put Cash into orbit. I'll have to remember my power tools.